In the installation of pipes and the like in various types of buildings and in particular pipes associated with air conditioning, refrigeration and heating, such as may be employed in commercial and industrial establishments, conventional practice is that the pipes are hung from the ceiling by strap hangers.
The most common type of strap hanger employed in the industry comprises a metal strap having apertures for fastening purposes. The strap is looped about the pipe to be secured and then a fastening member such as a screw or the like is secured to a substrate such as a beam or rafter through the apertures.
This conventional means of fastening pipes suffers from several disadvantages. Initially, each pipe must be installed individually and as such, the installation process is relatively labour intensive. Secondly, the hangers can cause the rupturing of the pipes after a period of time. This would occur due to movement of the pipe within the pipe hanger and subsequent surface damage. The movement will occur either due to mechanical vibrations, and/or to a thermal expansion and contraction.
There have been various proposals in the art for pipe support systems to overcome the above disadvantages. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 2,273,571 discloses an arrangement wherein one may use a hanger construction which includes the use of a plurality of pipe holders which are movably mounted on a fixed rail.
A further arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,806 wherein there is provided a vertically threaded shaft to receive pipe support members of various configurations which are attachable thereto.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,136 shows a somewhat similar arrangement wherein there is provided a vertically threaded rod or shaft along with hanger members may be secured thereto.